This disclosure relates to sport boots, and specifically to sport boots with enhanced abilities to absorb forces from jump landings and maneuvers. Still more specifically, this disclosure relates to sport boots having mechanical devices adapted to resist flexion of the boot at the ankle area.
Sport boots (e.g. an ice skating boot) require several seemingly conflicting elements. For example, they must fit comfortably, provide support laterally, and offer firm support for jump landings. They must also allow pivotal movement of the ankle, as in plantar flexion and plantar extension. In addition, as the skill of an athlete advances, additional support is often desired to assist in increasingly difficult jump landings and other physically demanding maneuvers. Thus, as athletic standards increase, balancing sport boot plantar resistance strength upon landings with boot flexibility has become a more difficult issue to solve.
Currently, sport boot designs offering additional landing strength generally include reinforced materials that are often thicker and stronger in order to support increasingly difficult jumps and movements. Reinforced sport boots designed to withstand those increasingly difficult, and higher, jumps often have flexion characteristics restricting plantar extension movement or calf muscle use in jumping. Further, reinforced leather, or other material, in the ankle area tends to gradually lose its stiffness and support, often prompting replacement of the boot.
Sport boots generally require a break-in period before it reaches optimal performance. The break-in time of a leather sport boot is almost entirely attributed to conditioning the portion of the boot surrounding the ankle, especially in boots reinforced in this area or with especially heavy leather. During this break-in time, wearer discomfort is increased. As sport boots become stronger and stiffer, the break-in period for the boot becomes more substantial. This additional break-in period has a potentially negative effect on training time.
At the other end of sport boot's life is the break-down period, during which the leather loses stiffness and performance drops below the optimum level. The most significant issue to the athletes using this equipment may be soft tissue injuries that are more frequent due to the break-down in the boot materials. Accelerated break-down of the sport boot not only leads to increased equipment costs but further erodes training time and sometimes leads to chronic injuries.
Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and apparatus for sport boots offering increased flexion resistance that seek to overcome certain of the limitations or drawbacks of the prior art.